Activity

You have a great topic! Please remember that most kids won’t have any background knowledge of molecules yet (not until high school) but most kids have heard of H20 and CO2 ~ with NO understanding of why. Also, are you saying there different forms of CO2 or just different sources?

I’m worried about how much talking is going on and the flow of visitors. I’m thinking that if there is a way for the people to get the idea without as much “lecture” type talking it would be better. Is there some way to have them start on one side and progress along the table? If your tables are really small, that may not work either. Maybe the breath-test on one side (with one of you behind the table asking, “Do you produce carbon dioxide?”) Is there some way to measure how much carbon dioxide they exhale? Or take a pH level of their sample? Maybe put the sources board in the middle. Then on the other side have the effects (even though we do teach pH levels, most students don’t really understand it ~ it’s pretty mysterious to them) ~

I’m wondering if kids will think this is just TOO big a problem, I mean if EVERYONE produces carbon dioxide, we might at well just GIVE UP… is there some way to visually compare how much carbon dioxide is being produced by burning fossil fuels as compared to people? There is also a good joke in here ~ after they’ve seen how they produce carbon dioxide, you could ask them to please stop breathing (in a kind way of course) and then pretend to realize that breathing is really important to them.

Will you have some real coral samples there for the students to hold?

I hope this made sense ~ you have a really good idea and this is something most people don’t understand.

Yikes! I forgot something~ test out how to do the balloon into the solution part ~ I used too small of a container and the force of the air being released from the balloon created massive splashing EVERYWHERE!